Honoring the deal
by Sheankelor
Summary: The sequel to "Making Deals". This is what happened when the Heads got together after the dueling club meeting. Did Filius get his wish? Did Minerva remember the scotch? Did Pomona bring the biscuits? Hope that you enjoy!


_An: This is the sequel to "Making Deals" which was written as a sequel to __shadowycat's "Dueling With Dolts" with her permission. It just wouldn't let me leave it there, so after finishing the work on "Headmaster" and "A place", I had to write this one. I hope that you enjoy. It should be the end of this series. Honestly, it should. *glare directed at plot bunny*_

_Reposted due to the lovely Raya_Light and Elflina have combed through it and made it even better. ^-^_

_Honoring the Deal_

Filius set the pensive out on his desk. Minerva and Pomona would be there shortly and Severus was currently reporting to Albus about what had happened in the dueling club with Gilderoy. Rumors were running rampant already. The Ravenclaw common room had been full of questions about the parselmouth ability and the blood lines associated with it. He had fielded as many as he could, and sent more off to research what he was unwilling to answer. His Eagles knew how he worked. They would find their answers, and hopefully by that time the fervor would have died down. After he made sure that he had the chairs settled about a short table, he moved the pensive over to it so that they could be comfortable afterward. He left room for the scotch and biscuits.

There was a soft knock at his door. Scampering across the room, he opened it to admit the two female Head of Houses. "Come in, we are waiting on Severus to arrive. He was called into a meeting with Albus."

They both sat their contributions on the table and took the offered chairs.

Minerva tipped her head slightly. "Is he still coming? After a meeting with Albus, and an evening like I heard he had, he might just want to hide in his lab for a while."

"I heard that Gilderoy was especially flighty and didn't listen to his suggestions." Pomona leaned back in her seat.

"Severus gave me his word and you know as well as I that means he will be here even if the meeting with Albus takes till the wee hours in the morning." Filius watched as the other two nodded in agreement.

There was a sharp knock on his door. With a bounce in his step, Filius went to admit the Potions Master "Severus, good evening." With a gesture, he directed the Head of Slytherin towards the gathered seats.

The other Heads waited until he was settled, with a glass of scotch in his hands before they started with their questions. "So, is he really a parselmouth?" There was no need to explain who the 'he' was.

Severus pulled out his wand. "I guess you want to see that part of the evening first? Start with the bad and then end with the good?"

Placing the tip of his wand to his forehead, he pulled a silvery strand out and let it fall into the bowl that was resting on the table. "Shall we? I started a bit before the event so that you could see what led up to it."

Everyone touched the bowl and fell into the floating memory. They all landed in the modified Great Hall, surrounded by students. The students were milling about, pairing off. The others looked over at Severus as if asking him to fill them in on what was happening. "The dolt had just decided to pair the students off so that they could practice disarming charms against each other."

The look on his face told them just how much he thought of that tactic.

Pomona's eyes widened. "He did teach them some blocking spells first, right?"

The look Severus gave her told them the answer without needing to say a word. They watched as he broke the Golden Trio up, pairing Harry with Draco and Hermoine with Millicent.

Minerva raised an eyebrow at him. "Why? You should have known that was going to cause problems."

"I was hoping to keep all my issues in one place where I could watch them. And part of me was hoping that they could mutate their unfriendly rivalry to something a bit more conducive if they actually could attack each other in a controlled environment. I know that Draco has been taught many spells before he came here and over the summer, but Potter has proved to be...worthy of his reputation of being good at defense. I was hoping that they could stalemate." He watched as the memory of the scene played out again. Draco had cheated, sending his spell off before the count was done, and then they both used spells that were not disarming spells. The fact that Draco cheated was the one that showed him that the hope of a strict rivalry was not going to be achieved. He felt too threatened by Potter.

Filius raised an eyebrow at Malfoy's cheating, and then shook his head at Gilderoy's handling of the situation. Standing there are yelling _'Stop' _was not going to help anything. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when Severus took charge. The Heads surveyed the room identifying the damage to their own personal houses. They then watched the memory Severus' eyes glint when Gilderoy suggested teaching them blocking spells.

Minerva looked at the current Severus that was standing next to her. "You told him to do that earlier, didn't you?"

He glared at the mauve colored popinjay that was standing obviously flustered in the center of the hall. "Yes, before we came into the room, I suggested that we start with blocking. He dismissed the idea."

Filius groaned and lowered his head into a hand. He was going to really owe Severus for this.

Pomona frowned when memory Severus dismissed Gilderoy's dueling partner suggestion and once again put Malfoy and Potter together. She was distracted from asking why as she watched Glideroy wave his wand about in a nonsense pattern after picking it up from where he had dropped it. She returned her attention to the current Severus when Minerva started talking.

"What did you tell Malfoy that had him smirking?" Minerva watched the boy's expression with a worried gaze.

"I told him that he better hold up the house pride. He could not start early again. I think he was smirking because he realized that the Dolt was showing Potter nonsense and there was no way that he would be able to defend himself."

"Weren't you worried about that?" Filius waited for the answer to his question.

"Potter has proven to have good luck at getting out of impossible situations before, and I was there just in case something went wrong. Plus Draco knew that the whole school was watching, so he would keep it safe but as embarrassing as possible." Severus settled back to watch what happened next. This time he want to see it without the startlement that had clouded his mind.

The snake was long and brown, but there was not a spell that Potter could cast that would block it. The boy reacted well, showing his Gryffindor colors. He stood his ground and watched the serpent. As much as he disliked Potter, he could appreciate what it took not to run away from the snake. He also knew that Draco would feel like he was one up on Potter, not realizing that Potter had actually bested him by not backing down to the serpent. All in all this might make the rivalry lessen. That is, it could have until Potter spoke.

The other three watched as the snake slithered closer to Potter. Minerva almost gave a sigh of relief when Severus told Potter that he would get rid of it. It changed into a strangled choke when the idiot disguised as a DADA teacher offered to do it, and proceeded to cast before Severus could tell him no. The murderous look on Severus' face at that moment made her wonder if she should warn Albus to put protection charms on Gilderoy's rooms or his person and suggest that the man watch what he ate and drank for quite some time to come. Severus wasn't above spiking someone's food, at least not when you got him that mad.

They watched as the snake sailed through the air and landed near Finch-Fletchley and Harry running towards it yelling, hissing, at the snake. That the snake immediately slumped down to the floor was a surprise. Pomona, Filius and Minerva glanced at the memory Severus, whose face was blank but they could all read the shock he was attempting to hide in his eyes, and then at the current Severus.

"Was he telling it to attack? That is what the current rumors are." Minerva waited as she listened to Finch-Fletchley freak out and accused Harry of "playing with him". She then watched as the memory Severus got rid of the snake and Harry was pulled away by Hermione and Ron. They were out of the pensive before he answered.

"No, he wasn't. The tones were wrong, not as threatening." Severus took another swig of his scotch and reached for a biscuit.

Minerva leaned back into her seat. She trusted him. Severus was the only one there who had heard parseltongue on a regular basis. The others seems to agree with her. "So, how is this going to affect him at school? How are your Slytherins going to act towards him?"

Filius sipped his drink before answering. "He is going to be shunned. They are going to think he is opening the Chamber and is hurting everyone."

Pomona's eyes widened. "Surely not, he is friends with a number of muggleborn and half-bloods. There is no reason for them to jump to that conclusion."

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. "Except he has the ability to talk to snakes, which is a 'dark wizard's' characteristic and one known to travel through Slytherin's family tree. Add on that he is Potter, which means he has to be famous or infamous, they are going to lean towards infamous for the time being. Even my Slytherins." He looked over at Minerva and then the other two. "We are going to have to watch his back even more."

When the others nodded in agreement, he turned to Filius. "And now my diminutive friend, you have a memory to show us. It is time for something a bit lighter."

Filius' eyes brightened with the memory of Gilderoy's request that he be the man's assistant for the Dueling Club. Severus retrieved his memory as Filius pulled his out. The group dropped into Filius' classroom once they entered the memory. Even Severus was smiling when Gilderoy hit the ground during the impromptu duel.

Minerva adopted one of Severus' smirks for a moment. "So that is how he ended up on the floor. That was certainly an _impressive evasive _ maneuver."

Pomona couldn't speak due to the laughter that was flowing out of her.

Filius looked over at Severus once they returned. "Now, were you able to keep your end of the deal? You do have a good memory to show us, don't you?"

With a smirk Severus pulled out the memory of the demonstration duel that started the dueling club meeting. A gentle flick of the wrist and it was in the bowl. With a touch of the surface all four of them were once again in the Great Hall.

As they listened to Gilderoy introduce Severus, Filius decided that he may in fact owe the man something more than permanently sharpened knives. _'Have a Potions Master left, indeed.'_

Somehow, they had worked themselves around so that they were standing near Potter and Weasley to watch the duel. Severus had to curb the urge to laugh out right at Potter's comment that 'he wouldn't bet on it' after Gilderoy had said that neither was aiming to kill. If he hadn't promised Filius a basic spell, then he might just have permanently hurt the dolt at that moment. It seemed the boy was capable of sarcasm and of reading him well.

Filius watched as Severus took out the DADA teacher. "An _Expelliarmus_ Severus..." A chuckle reverberated through him. "... that was beautiful."

Minerva flickered a glance at Harry. "I think Harry was disappointed in you, Severus. I think he wouldn't have minded if you had taken out the gilded farce."

Severus glanced at the face the boy was making. "I think you are right, Minerva."

Pomona grinned. "I think you would have except you promised Filius to use a basic spell. And what a basic one. Oh, that was so embarrassing to him. He never expected it and I don't think he allowed you to hit him no matter what he claims."

"Pomona, we both know that he could not protect himself from a bunch of pixies as earlier this year proved, there is no way that he could handle a duel. I am seriously suspecting all his books."

The other three nodded. They left the memory as Lockhart was telling the students to get into pairs.

As they settled back once more into their seats, Minerva's eyes narrowed. "He told them to practice disarming their opponents, but didn't even explain the spell or go back over the incantation. No wonder the room was in chaos." The others nodded in agreement. "So, when is the next meeting, Severus?"

Severus slumped back into the seat. "There won't be. Albus canceled them after the events of this evening. I didn't ask the reason and Gilderoy didn't seem interested in knowing why either."

The rest of the group sighed. Pomona voiced what all of them were thinking. "Well there goes our weekly entertainment. What shall we plan on doing now?" She tilted her head at the thought, her voice becoming contemplative. "I have some funny memories of students in Herbology. We could share memorable moments of class."

The other three grinned, well two grinned and one smirked.

"Same time next week?" Filius looked at his companions. "Minerva, the scotch. Pomona, the biscuits. I have the pensive. Severus what are you bringing?"

He reached into his pocket and set three vials onto the table."Hangover cures for the morning after."

They pocketed their vial while Minerva poured another round. It was Pomona's turn to drop a memory.


End file.
